Doctors’ surgery pays £4,000 settlement over lack of sign language interpreter provision

The daughter of a late deaf woman has received a payout of more than £4,000 from a GPs’ surgery in Belfast after the practice failed to provide a sign language interpreter for her medical appointments. The out-of-court settlement was made under the terms of the Disability Discrimination Act of 1995.

Carole Curlett would interpret for her mother Ida, a sign language user, at the Parkside Surgery in the north of the city, where she had been a patient for more than 30 years. But it was only after a chance chat with a taxi driver in 2018, when a cabbie told the pair about a similar case, that they realised they were entitled to have a sign language interpreter.

While it made no admission of liability, which in any event only a court could decide, the surgery paid out £4,250. The Equality Commission for Northern Ireland supported Carole in bringing the landmark case of disability discrimination.

Parkside Surgery in the Northern Irish capital’s York Road has now agreed to make sure its deaf patients know interpretation is available, and to provide this facility in the future.

The commission said the older Ms Curlett, who died in early 2019, was never offered a BSL interpreter during more than three decades of attending the medical practice.

Her daughter told journalists: “I’m glad it’s settled now, but I can’t help feeling aggrieved that over all those years, we never knew my mother was entitled to an interpreter. It was a strain on both of us.

“In more than 30 years, my mother was never offered any sign language interpretation – in fact, we didn’t know that she had a right to that service as a disabled person until we heard of another family in a similar situation that had gone to the Equality Commission for help.”

Carole added that her mother depended on her to interpret all her doctor’s appointments, meaning she had to attend all of them with her. But the daughter was not a professional BSL interpreter, who may have given a better understanding of the GP’s words.

At the same time, the older woman felt her health questions were never properly explained.

For its part, the Equality Commission said it was ‘disappointed’ it was still seeing failures to give proper access to services such as GP appointments, 26 years after the UK’s Disability Discrimination Act was passed.

Its legal services director Anne McKernan told the BBC: “Not having a professional interpreter in place in a medical setting could give rise to problems not just for the patient, but also the practice – issues such as misdiagnosis, misunderstanding of how to follow a treatment plan or inadequate informed consent.”

She added that using an unofficial interpreter placed an ‘unfair burden’ on them – in this case that was Mrs Curlett’s daughter – and that the commission was glad to support cases like the Curletts’ to both bring about change and raise awareness of rights.

And she told Limping Chicken: “This was discriminatory, so I hope procedures do now indeed change. For the family, the case was never really about the money, but the principle. It’s a real quality of life issue.

“A family member should not have to interpret at medical appointments, which may concern very personal or intimate issues. Carole simply wanted the surgery to recognise that her mother was deaf, but had the same rights as any other patient to discuss medical issues and to understand and be involved in her care. Mother and daughter were clearly very close, but this situation was unfair on both of them.

“While up to 50% of our work involves disability discrimination, it is hugely disappointing to know that cases like this are still going on.”

A similar case occurred in 2018, when the South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust apologised and paid £7,000, again without admission of liability, to the family of a profoundly deaf County Antrim man, now dead, to whom they did not provide a sign language interpreter while he was in their care.

Ultimately, it meant the man’s daughter, Jillian Shanks, had to communicate the news to her father that his condition was terminal. She said at the time: “That was very distressing – for him, for myself and for my mother, who is also deaf and was with him throughout.”

Additionally, Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) Kellie Armstrong, who has 40% hearing, successfullly asked the Equality Commission for help in putting her case for new videoconferencing facilities to the Northern Ireland Assembly Commission after remote working became essential.

McKernan said: “We were pleased that the Assembly Commission responded positively and promptly to Ms Armstrong’s needs, and that our advice helped achieve a good and lasting result.”

Now the Curlett family hopes that, by going public with their story, it can trigger change.

Studies have shown that deaf people are often more reluctant to visit their doctor about health problems, which can lead to issues going undiagnosed.